17 Facts About Paul Rigby

Paul Crispin Rigby AM was an Australian cartoonist who worked for newspapers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Paul Rigby studied art at Brighton Technical School before leaving at 15 to work as a commercial artist, eventually taking up freelance work.

Paul Rigby was a gunner-armourer in the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II from 1942 to 1946, serving primarily in bombers in North Africa and Europe.

Paul Rigby worked as a commercial artist and teacher before moving to Perth to work as an illustrator for West Australian Newspapers, notably on the Western Mail.

From 1959 Paul Rigby's cartoons were syndicated to various newspapers throughout Australia.

Paul Rigby worked briefly at Rupert Murdoch's Sydney Daily Mirror from 1969.

Murdoch had just purchased English tabloid The Sun and in the same year Paul Rigby relocated to London to work on Murdoch's new acquisition.

Paul Rigby spent eight years on the New York Daily News and for 15 years was the main cartoonist on the New York Post.

Paul Rigby contributed work to the News of the World, the German Springer Group and the US National Star.

Paul Rigby returned to Australia in 1974 to work at the Sydney Daily Telegraph and then moved to the United States to work at another new Murdoch acquisition, the New York Post, contributing to the Star.

Paul Rigby illustrated more than 30 books and produced a number of collections of his drawings.

In much the same way that Al Hirschfeld concealed the name "NINA" in his own drawings, Paul Rigby usually included hard-to-find images of a tiny dog and a small boy somewhere in his cartoons.

Paul Rigby is a recipient of an Order of Australia for services to cartooning.

Paul Rigby won five Walkley Awards, a New York Press Club Award in 1982, and US Newspaper Guild's Page One Award in 1983,1984,1985, and 1986.

Paul Rigby is credited with founding the Limp Falling Association in Perth in the late 1950s.

Paul Rigby married the radio and television journalist Marlene Cockburn in Perth in 1956.

Paul Rigby died of a heart attack on 15 November 2006.